Volume 83, Issue No. 10
Chspel Hill, North Carolina
Thursday, July 31, 1QSQ
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By Susan Mauney
Emergency call box service funded by the Town of Chapel Hill
was discontinued July 1.
The 24 call boxes, located throughout town, were tied into the
Chapeliiill Police department for emergency calls. A light board
in the police department signaled the exact location of the caller in
the emergency and guided officers to the scene as quickly as
possible.
Ben Callahan, Chapel Hill police department administrative
assistant, said that maintenance problems have offset the
emergency system's usefulness. .
"We just decided that the use and problems they gave us were just
not worth it," Callahan said. The call boxes are the property of
Southern Bell Telephone Co. and are serviced by them.
The boxes are financed through the town police department and
the monthly rates have risen over 70 percent in the past year,
Callahan said.
"We never got a call from them that was documented," Callahan
said. "In the past four years, we have had to run periodic checks on
them to make sure that they were working." Callahan said that the
town continuously had to request maintenance for them, and had
to pay monthly rates regardless of whether the boxes were working.
Callahan also said that a police department survey found that
two-thirds of the town's call boxes were located within sight
distance of phone booths.
In an emergency, a caller would be able to run into a booth and
dial 911 for a direct line to the police emergency dispatcher.
The Chapel Hill public works department has been putting bags
over the boxes that are not working until Southern Bell is able to
remove them.
Callahan said that there is a possibility that the call boxes will be
replaced by phone booths in areas where a booth is not already
available.
"Phone booths tend to be in better shape," Callahan said.
The call boxes were installed by the University when the local
telephone system was still University-owned. When the University
sold its utilities. Southern Bell took over box maintenance.
See CALL page 6A
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Spiraling prices force students
to budget carefully, spend wisely
By Howard Troxler
Special to The Tar Heel
For the first time in his four years as a student at The
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Tony Furr
has taken a job to help make ends meet. He's now a
hamburger cook in a fast food restaurant.
To raise extra cash, every other week he sells a pint of
blood for $20 to N.C. Memorial Hospital.
He takes his new-found working-class status in stride.
"I'm j ust not buying as many luxury items these days. Like
food," he jokes. "And there's nothing like selling your
precious bodily fluids to get by."
Most of the 20,000 students at UNC aren't quite so
dramatic about their finances. But as the costs of living and
attending school continue to rise,; many students are
changing teh way they spend money.
"The goocl old days are gone," moaned Beverly Shepard,
a junior from Jacksonville. "All those things I loved to do,
I -can't afford any more.-
!Like joy-riding, which now costs a dollar a gallon for
gas. And eating seafood mmm, I love to eat seafood. But
the last time I went, I spent $7.33. Who can afford to do
that?"
Just how much students could afford was on the minds
of the members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chamber of
Commerce this spring when they took a survey of area
merchants to find the effects of inflation and recession on
sales. . . . :
The results of the survey were surprising: Retail sales in
Chapel Hill were ahead of 1979. Of the 15 categories of
business included in the survey, only two banks and
automobile dealers reported a decline in income.
According to the study of the 30 Chapel Hill-Carrboro
merchants and two dozen students surveyed, most said they
did not think students were spending less money. But they
said the money being spent was being spent differently. In
buying necessities, both said students were more apt to
look for bargains. Students said they had become
increasingly aware of the need to save money.
Town and gown
Of Chapel Hill's 35,000 population, roughly 20,000 are
students and 11,300 are University employees. Although
Chapel Hill's economy is influenced by the financial
affairs of students, it is not totally dependent on them, said
Bill McDonald, vice president of the chamber and
marketing director for the Chapel Hill Newspaper.
"Believe it or not, students do not account for much of
the retail sales in this town," McDonald said. "They
account for most of the sales of things like food and
everyday items everyone needs.
"But there are things like real estate and other businesses
that are a large part of the business community, which
have nothing or little to do with students," McDonald said.
"What I'm trying to say is this: We look at students as
part of the general public. You can't say, The students
aren't spending money, so we're going down the drain.'
"They're like everybody else who's fighting inflation.
Everybody is tightening the belt. And eventually, things
will get better and everyone, including students, will be
better off."
College-town blues
But students aren't better off yet. According to the UNC
Student Aid Office, the average cost of attending the 1980
1981 academic year will be $3,450, an increase of $490 from
last year. "It's a pretty big jump this year," said a financial
aid administrator. "We usually raise the estimate about
$100 a year, but so many things went up, we had to go
higher."
One of the reasons for the higher estimate is rent In
dormitories, students will pay an average of $60 more this
year. In apartment complexes, most rents are going up
about $50 a month.
See INFLATION on pagejA
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By Jeff Bowers
Carrboro town officials said this week
that the C bus route will be split in August
into two routes and that a new bike path
connecting Carrboro to the University
would be built.
The C bus route, which has been plagued
with severe overcrowding, will be split to
form a new C route and a J route that will
cover Jones Ferry Road and 54 bypass,
acting town manager Sonna Loewenthal
said Tuesday.
Loewenthal said she hoped the split
could be made by the fall semester.
"Carrboro will be extending bus service
in two ways. One, by splitting the C route
and two, by extending shared ride service
on evenings," Loewenthal said.
The new routes will be funded by federal
revenue sharing funds until at least
November when a referendum to use tax
money to pay for bus service will come
before the voters, Loewenthal said.
Some of the details of the new route have
not been decided on, "but that's a relatively
easy process," she said.
Carrboro also received a federal grant of
more than $100,000 to build a bike path
connecting the town with UNC.
"The grant we got was to build a separate
bike path along the railroad tracks between
Cameron Avenue and downtown
Carrboro," said Larry Belkin, acting
planning director.
The new two-lane bike path will be 14
feet wide, paved with asphalt, lighted and
patrolled.
"It'll be shorter for a lot of people riding
from Carrboro to UNC," Belkin said, "Not
only will it be shorter, but it will be safer
since there will be no automobiles."
The town is also widening Greensboro
Street to include two bike lanes. This
project is now under construction, Belkin
said.
Plans are to install bike lanes along
Jones Ferry Road as well. Construction on
that project is scheduled for sometime early
next year, he said.
"The only section (between Old Well
Apartments on Jones Ferry and UNC)
which will not have bike lanes will be
about one block in the downtown area,"
Belkin said. "
The federal money that will allow
Carrboro to build the new bike path was
part of a $400,000 grant distributed among
eight southern states. The town of
Carrboro received over one-fourth of that
total grant
Chapel Hill also has several bike paths
and bike lanes.
. West Cameron Avenue and Country
Club Road each have bike lanes, while
Airport Road, Raleigh Road and Franklin
Street have bike paths.
A pamphlet containing a map of Chapel
Hill's bike lanes and paths along with bike
regulations is available from the planning
department in the Municipal Building on
North Columbia Street.
Inside
The
Tar Heel
Sugar Lake offers fun. Sco
page CO.
A guide to night life. See
page 12B.
The summer at a glance. See
page 21A.
Football preview. See page
19 A.
Blacks at UNC. See 0230
12A.